Saturday, March 2, 2019

story from a 1989 park



This excerpt appears in the NYC journal
section of When You Smile You Let in Light.
It was written Exactly 30 years ago while
I was on break from my factory temp job.
I still remember the sunlight that day.




In Central Park today, escaping from the office


for the green wind of park statues and pigeons,


I was eating a cheese sandwich under the singing


trees and I heard a cry for help. When I got up


to investigate, the voice seemed further away,


like leaving, so I almost tripped over him


in my hurry. When I discovered him he was


the size of a cola bottle. He was shrinking away


fast, yelling out little lungs. There was nothing


I could do (thinking maybe I could cup my


hands about him like a carbonated matchstick)


but I could only watch him shrink into a cigarette


signature and blow away like the smallest


wind-up biplane toy.

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